It's a mystery as old as the track that brought it to life. On the intro to Def Leppard's hit song "Rock of Ages," a slightly accented voice is heard saying "Gunter gleiben glauchen globen." What do the words mean? Why did the band include them in the song? Now, drummer Rick Allen has taken to Twitter to set the record straight.

"It was actually (producer) Mutt Lange who came up with that," Allen said via a video posted to the band's official account. "He was getting so tired of saying '1,2,3,4' whenever we counted in. He wanted to inject a bit of humor in there." As for the specific language, Allen says that it was also Lange's creation. "I guess 'Gunter gleiben glauchen globen' is some Germanic-sounding language. I wouldn't put it past Mutt because he actually speaks Dutch."

Regardless of the words' meaning, the phrase was instantly catchy. "When it came to mixing the song, everybody decided that we wanted to keep the count on there."

Since "Rock of Ages" was released, the four made-up words have taken on a pop-culture life of their own. Poet Michael Robbins used the phrase in his work published in the New Yorker, while the Offspring sampled the intro for their hit song "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)."

Still, Allen says the greatest reward is hearing fans react to the phrase at concerts. "It's great because every time we play the song live, Joe (Elliot) gives me the job of saying, 'Gunter gleiben glauchen globen.'"